But What's Wrong With Orange?
by StarlightGlow
Summary: Post DH. The trio are staying at the Burrow after the war, everyone is out the house leaving Ron and Hermione alone. What better way than to spend the day together re-decorating his room? Queue for much fluffiness and paint fights. Oneshot.


**A:N// Just a random one-shot that popped in my head. To all 'Because I Want You' readers, don't worry I am still writing it's not abandoned or anything, I'm just having a bit of trouble with the chapter so hopefully this will help spur more ideas for it.**

But What's Wrong With Orange?

It was quiet. Far too quiet for the Burrow. Especially since it now had eight people living inside it; six being members of the Weasley family and the other two being Harry and me. With the war now finished and Voldemort long gone it seemed as if the Wizarding World would now finally be at peace. That was if you didn't count this morning.

Mrs Weasley had been cooking breakfast for the said eight people when it occurred to her that this living arrangement could be around for quite some time and since the Weasley's weren't exactly the most careful of people; recently many plates had been broken. So, they were very short on necessary appliances and when she heard another smash followed by a surprised groan from Harry, she insisted on going shopping for new plates with Mr Weasley.

George went out to work running his and Fred's joke shop. He had considered closing it after Fred's passing but knew that wasn't what his brother would have wanted and kept it open in his memory.

Harry and Ginny decided to go out for the day to Hogsmeade (mainly because ever since they had gotten back together Ron, being the most over protective brother, would flip out if Harry barely laid a finger on her).

And finally Bill had gone out for a ride on his broom and who knew when he could be back.

So that left me and a certain red-head I had been avoiding like the plague, all alone in the sitting room in what could be said as one of the most awkward silences known to man. Neither of us had yet to speak of the kiss that we had shared during the war and hadn't had to worry about it since we hadn't been alone. Until now.

My eyes darted all over the room as I took a deep breath desperately wanting to break the ice between us but had no idea how to go about it I knew I would have to be the one to do it, I hadn't known Ronald for seven going on eight years for nothing. He would never do it, he'd be too worried about me not saying anything back even though he really knew I would but would be to stubborn to admit it.

I coughed feeling dust get to the back of my throat and remembered how the Burrow rarely seemed to be dusty except for Ron's room since he would never clean it. I never fully understood why, with magic it would only take about two seconds. Anyway with that thought in mind I managed to break the silence.

"Your bedroom!" I exclaimed, perhaps just slightly louder than necessary since it looked like Ron jumped out of his skin by my statement. I could have sworn I heard the sofa give an un-easy creak as well. He blinked several times clearly trying to make sure he had heard me right which he probably had.

"Ummm yeah, it's where I sleep?" He said hesitantly not having any idea where I was going with this. I laughed slightly more out of nervousness than his comment, tucking some of my bushy hair behind my ears about to elaborate.

"No I just mean I haven't seen it in ages. You mind?" I asked standing up smiling at him, letting him know I was being serious. For some reason his cheeks got a light shade of pink and I wondered if he didn't want me to see it because he was embarrassed about something in there.

"Sure I guess." He said interrupting my train of thought as the endless possibilities of what could be embarrassing him ran through my head. He still had a slightly puzzled look as he stood up and walked to the stairs leading me upto his room.

Once inside I couldn't help the smile spreading across my face, it was exactly the same since I last saw it. I bet I could even pinpoint the same few sickles on his bedside table were the same.

The familiar Chudley Canon posters were plastered on the walls with the same matching bedsheets. I walked around the room glancing at his wardrobe and ran a finger over it only to get my finger dusty making me grimace. I heard Ron snigger at me and I glanced at him to see he was leaning against the door frame with that lopsided smile on his face. As soon as our eyes met he looked down at the ground removing his smile turning bright red.

I frowned slightly and stopped walking when I got to the window and saw a photo on the mantelpiece. I picked it up looking more closely at it and saw it was one of me and him. My lips crept into a small smile as I glazed my finger over the glass of the frame which had a tiny crack in at the corner. It was taken at the end of our third year by the Black Lake. We were laughing at something, I can't remember what and I had my arm around his neck with his hand on my back. Ron looked at me in the photo and then I looked at him which made us laugh even more before we looked at the camera again. Harry was obviously on the other side of me since I had my arm around his neck as well but for some reason he was torn off so there was just a shoulder.

I turned my actual head back at Ron to see him even redder as he shuffled his feet looking up at the ceiling and I gathered this was obviously the thing he hadn't wanted me to see. I smiled to myself, glad it wasn't something else and placed it back down.

"So...why's Harry torn off?" I asked not able to hold in the question much longer and saw his eyes widen for the second time in the last fifteen minutes. He rubbed the back of his neck as I sensed him feeling more awkward with every passing second.

"Well," He stopped to clear his throat and started fidgeting pulling his sleeves on his jumper down, squirming inside of it as if it was itching him. "You see Pig thought it was a letter and I tried to get it off him so I ummm was pulling at it to try and get it off him and he...wasn't letting go so it kind of got torn and he just happened to get Harry leaving me with you- I mean the rest of urr it."

I raised an eyebrow at him and saw his head hang down giving up on making up another ridiculous excuse as his fidgeting stopped.

"Okay you bloody well know that's not the reason, I don't know. I tore it cause I just wanted too. God why do you have to make such a big deal out of everything?" He snapped at me suddenly angry at me. I was about to snap back at him like I would usually do, but we hadn't spoken in weeks and I didn't think I could take another series of weeks of us not speaking again. So I simply rolled my eyes at him and glanced around at the dimly lit room. I furrowed my eyebrows not sure how it could seem so dim since the walls were a vivid orange colour. To see if they would go much brighter I flung open the curtains letting all the sunlight in, ignoring Ron's protests now completely calm with me. I'd never understand that boy's moodswings. I turned around and they were certainly brighter.

The colour of them was practically bouncing off everything, they were glowing as if there was a magical on enchantment on them. I squinted easing the pain it was causing my eyes to look at them.

"I told you not to open them." He said smugly as I closed the curtains hurriedly and glared at him for acting so proud of himself.

"Well if you hadn't had such blinding walls then there wouldn't be a problem to begin with!" I snapped at him and saw him roll his eyes at me earning a cold look from me as I crossed my arms.

"Bloody hell, what do you expect me to do about it then?" He asked in an oddly tired tone and sighed.

"Maybe if you had the brains to think of the oh-so-complex idea of re-painting them, that would help a great deal!" I continued snapping at him and he ran a hand through his hair making it all messy sticking up at all angles.

"But what's wrong with orange?" He snapped back at me in a hurt tone and I sighed running a hand down my face.

"Merlin, Ronald! This has nothing to do with your hair! I like it on you, but not on walls that are so bright I've got permanent eye damage from them." I saw his eyebrows raise at me and I ignored feeling another curl pop out of the ponytail I had put it in this morning. This tended to happen more often when I was particularly angry or stressed.

This was not helped by him now looking me up and down in a weird way that I hadn't seen him do before. I ignored the sudden rapid beating in my chest and swallowed feeling my throat go dry by this look.

"What are you staring at?" I snapped at him feeling very self-conscious as his scrutinising eyes continued looking up and down my body slowly.

"Just checking your still Hermione, you just gave me a compliment in an argument." He said and I looked at him as if he had gone insane.

"I most certainly did not!" Why on Earth would I do that? It didn't make any sense giving someone a compliment in the middle of an argument. And I would barely call this an argument it was more of a bickering.

"Yes you did, you said you liked my hair." He said with a stupid goofy smile on his face that made my palms sweat. Oh, wait I did. I blinked several times not quite sure how I could have let that slip out without realising. I was usually very aware of what I said and I don't think I could ever recall a previous situation where I had accidentally blurted out something I hadn't meant too.

"I said I liked the colour of it." I corrected him still trying to maintain some of my pride. This only caused him to grin even more and I resisted the urge to pound my fists into every part of him.

"Alright then. What colour were you thinking of?" He said pulling out his wand catching me by surprise. I expected a lot more from him before he gave up, since when had he become so grown-up. My arms dropped to my sides as I blinked several times.

He also never asked my opinion on things, that was a first.

"Uum how about green?" I suggested saying a random colour. I saw him get a revolted look on his face and I let out a sigh pinching my temple. "Oh honestly Ronald. Please don't tell me you don't want it just because it represents Slytherin."

"What? It's perfectly understandable." He huffed childishly, wiping all thoughts of me thinking he had grown up off my mind.

"How exactly?" I questioned really interested what his answer would be.

"We're Gryffindors. It's expected for us to hate everything to do with Slytherins. It's all about the principle." He said in a logical voice and I sighed figuring it would take years before his hatred of Slytherins would go away.

"Fine, no green. How about blue? A dark blue, it looks good on you-your walls." I suggested narrowly avoiding my slip up that he thankfully hadn't taken notice of. He shrugged his shoulders and flicked his wand where two large tubs of navy paint appeared and a few large sized paint brushes. He was about to flick his wand again so the walls would magically start getting painted but I stopped him.

"Wait! Why don't we do it the muggle way?" I suggested as he raised an eyebrow at me as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had heard. "It's something to do isn't it? And it can be fun."

This got me another incredulous look and I shook my head in disbelief. I strode over to him and snatched his wand out his hand, putting it in my back pocket before he had a chance to attempt to get it back.

"Hey!" He whined trying to grab it but I jumped out the way and ran to the opposite side of the room my back against the wall. I grinned at him evilly as he walked over to me. He stopped just a few centimetres away from me wiping the smile off my face as I felt my breath catch in my throat at the thought if I just leant forward our lips would collide. "Hermione, can I have my wand?"

"Nope." I said and started grinning at him again in the same annoying way, hiding how warm I suddenly felt my our close proximity. I saw him lick his lips for a reason I didn't know and he then blinked a few times.

"Fine." He replied and before I could stop him he had whipped out my wand in my front pocket and started twiddling it between his fingers. I glared at him and tried taking my wand back but he only held it above his head. There was no hope now.

"Give me it." I said going on my tiptoes trying to get it still only succeeding in reaching only half way up his upper arm.

"Oh I'm convinced." He said sarcastically, knowing it would irritate me more. I started jumping for it now and I still only managed to reach just above his elbow. It seemed inevitable I was going to lose this battle but I still tried to atleast get to a reasonable height before giving in. Once I managed to barely get to his wrist I decided that was enough, on my way down I felt like I was going to fall so I put my hand on his broad shoulder to help my balance.

I contemplated on trying to climb up on him to help me get to my wand but realised it would probably put us in a very awkward position. Although speaking of awkward positions the one we were in wasn't much better. My chest was pressed right up against his and with my hand on his shoulder I wouldn't be surprised if a person walked in thinking I was throwing myself at him. I let my arm still trying to reach my wand drop to my side as I unconsciously looked in his eyes. Those sapphire blue eyes that were so familiar to me but still everytime I looked at them managed to make my heart race. I felt my lips part so I could get enough oxygen to go around my body and I saw him swallow as his eyes went down to look at my lips. The first thought that occured to me was that he wanted to kiss me.

God I wanted him too. It had been far too long since I last felt them on mine. I was beginning to forget the feeling I got from it. How my heart felt like it had swollen upto twice it's size and was beating so fast that it felt like it had stopped completely.

But I pushed that thought to the back of my mind because it was too ridiculous for words. He'd never given any indication that he liked me more then friends so there wasn't much point in hoping he was wanting to kiss me.

I took a step away from him forgetting the wall was right behind me so my back hit against it rather painfully. I also took my hand off his shoulder while doing this and shivered feeling not as warm as I had been now I wasn't as close to him anymore.

"Shall we get on with it then?" He said after a minute's silence in a hoarse voice.

I changed into some old clothes and re-did the ponytail my hair was in before going back into his room. He had already started on the wall infront of me so his back was to me, in a way I was kind of glad for. I was still feeling embarrassed about the situation we had gotten in before.

So I set to work grabbing a brush and a tub of paint, I made my way over to the wall to his left. My decision of course wasn't affected by the fact the photo of us was in seeing distance from that wall at all.

I wasn't sure how long we were painting for before one of us spoke. Could have well been an hour for all I knew since there was no clock. We had both finished painting the walls we were working on and turned around to look at eachother.

"What wall do you want to do?" I asked him in a surprisingly high voice that made him burst out laughing. I cleared my throat blushing scarlet and glared at him when he refused to stop laughing. "Ronald." I warned and he slowly stopped his laughter.

"Sorry, you just sounded so weird." He said sounding like he was going to burst out laughing again at any moment. I rolled my eyes at him and got to work on a different wall. I realised I didn't have nearly enough paint to finish the wall with so I turned around to get some of Ron's. That was until I crashed into him whilst he was carrying it.

I closed my eyes and resisted the urge to scream at him. After much deliberation I eventually opened my eyes to see guilt written all over his face which could only mean one thing.

"I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, sorry." He said seeing me give him the coldest look I could manage at that time.

"Ronald." I could feel my anger levels rising so rapidly I felt like I was about to explode.

"So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry."

"That's it." I snapped and did the first thing I could think of. I grabbed my tub of paint and threw most of the contents at him. I knew it was immature and very un-Hermione of me but I just wanted to get him back in the quickest possible way and that seemed to be it. There was also something about Ron that would always bring out the child in me.

I could tell by his dropped jaw that he hadn't been expecting it and I gave him a quick dry smile.

"There, now we match." I snapped and saw him laugh slightly.

"Okay, if that's the way you want to play it." He said sighing and threw some paint at me, this time all over my legs.

"Ronald!" I yelled now furious at him. I threw some at him but he dodged it so it hit the wall. I aimed again and managed to get him. I got it all over his neck and some of his face getting as high as nose and laughed slightly seeing him wipe it off then shake his hand so it splattered on the wall.

"Hermione!" He mimicked and I glared at him just as he threw some more paint at me. It mainly hit my back since I had turned around just in time but some drops landed on the wall. I flicked my head around and glanced at him throwing the rest of my paint at him.

This time he had a streak of paint across his face and I couldn't help laughing at him. He wiped it off his face which only succeeded in smearing it all over his cheeks.

"Give up?" He asked and I pulled out his wand. I cast a spell so the tub refilled with green paint this time and grinned at him.

"Got all day haven't we?"

"I like it, it's artistic." I said as we stared at his now splattered wall in an assortment of colours. It did dial down the brightness of the orange by a great deal. There was blue, red, yellow, purple, white, black and much to Ron's disapproval, green.

The huge painting fight must have gone on for a couple of hours since it had taken a good half an hour for us to clear up the mess of paint we made not on the walls with magic. Needless to say me and Ron were head to toe in paint aswell. I glanced at him to see that virtually half of his face was red, green and blue. I just happened to notice there was only a small dot of green on his lips though.

He looked at me probably sensing my staring so I quickly looked back at the wall glad that the paint was hiding my blush. Out the corner of my eye I saw him give me that lopsided smile of his before looking back at the wall.

"So can I have my wand back now?" He asked and I looked at him pulling it out my backpocket.

"I don't see why not." I replied as he took it out my hand and pocketed it. "May I have mine then."

He looked upto his left giving the impression he was giving a lot of thought on the subject and I sighed using the opportunity to just take it out his pocket and put it in mine. "Thanks."

He sniggered and I looked back at the wall. I was looking at the left hand corner when I noticed some writing there. I squinted at it but still couldn't see what it said. With curiosity taking over me I got up on Ron's bed, so I was at a greater height and could read it. I noticed it was a date.

"3rd of June. 6th year." I said aloud as I felt the bed sink beside me meaning Ron had joined me. I looked at him and saw him swallow. "What's the 3rd of June?"

"Nothing, it's stupid. Ginny wrote it up there to remind me for some reason." He said scratching the back of his neck avoiding my gaze.

"Reminding you of what?" I asked determined to not let him out of this one. He sighed and looked at me embarrassed.

"She said, 'it's to remind me of how much I was an idiot that day because I didn't realise-umm it was the day after I got out of the hospital wing after being poisoned.'" He said his face, well the part I could see of it, turning a closer colour to his hair with each word.

"I don't understand, you're not an idiot for getting poisoned." I said with furrowed eyebrows as he got a look I couldn't identify on his face.

"It's to remind me of how much I was an idiot that day because I didn't realise that we were supposed to end up together. Me and you." He said looking directly into my eyes and I felt my eyebrows raise by the smallest amount. "Not me and Ginny. Eww that'd be disgusting, I'm not a big fan of incest. It's good that it's a law really. Just think what would happen if it wasn't? Ugh, actually don't."

I could tell he was trying to change the subject and he was probably rambling slightly because he was embarassed. I leant forward and placed a soft kiss on his painted cheek, not caring about the taste closing my eyes. I pulled away after many seconds, realising he had shut up and was looking at me with wide eyes.

I gave him a small smile wondering when I would get a feeling of self-consciousness and end up running out the room would come. I stared into his eyes screaming at him to do something, anything otherwise I didn't know what I'd do. I'd already kissed him during the war, what more of a hint did he need that I wanted to be with him?

I started giving up hope on him making a move so I sighed feeling a small twinge in my chest that made me want to cry and I looked down at the ground just about to get off the bed and walk out. That was until I felt a warm sensation pass through my neck and I looked up to see his hand was there. With my pulse beating like a drum I gazed up into his eyes once more and saw his face was inches away from mine. His eyes were darting from my eyes to my lips and I felt them part so I could breathe properly as he started stroking my neck. He was slowly leaning towards me, and I mean slowly. Time seemed to drag on as I awaited for his lips to press against mine which I knew they eventually would.

He stopped leaning forward as our lips were a centimetre apart to look far into my eyes before he took a breath and closed his eyes. I felt our lips collide and a massive surge of electricity passed through me, despite how soft and tender the kiss was. I felt his arm wrap around my waist and I felt a chill where a few of his fingers were touching my bare skin. I placed my hands on his shoulders as he continued kissing me sweetly.

My lips parted at their own accord and the change in our kiss must have happened in a second at most. It went from being tender and sweet to passionate yet romantic. My arms snaked around his neck and I ran my hands upto into his hair feeling his tongue on mine as he wound his arms tighter around me so my body was crushed against his. My lips and his moved in sync when I went on my toes so he didn't have to lean down so much to reach me. This brought us just that little bit closer and I wrapped my arms tighter around his neck.

Despite this it was as if we still weren't close enough, I slid one hand down his neck and chest to go on his back where I dug my fingers into his back feeling a pull at my stomach. He curved over me making the kiss even deeper as a rush swept through me.

We stood up straight once I felt my neck beginning to hurt from the odd angle it was at and broke apart.

"You taste like paint." He said breathlessly and I raised my eyebrows at him. "Not that I don't like it!"

I shook my head in disbelief but felt his hands go to my neck pulling my head back up to kiss me again. I closed my eyes slightly surprised at how forward he was being, he was so hesitant before. I felt my knees give out and we sunk so we were sitting on the bed which was far more comfortable.

And Ron still being in this forward state of mind, gently pushed me down on the bed so we were lying down side by side our arms and legs tangled together. All the years of wanting to be like this with one another pouring out of us in a few minutes.

That was when the moment was completely ruined as we heard the door slam open and looked to see a wide eyed but grinning Ginny looking at us.

"No Ginny! This isn't what it looks like!" Ron said recognising the evil mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Oh mum!" She sang walking out the door. "Ron's having sex with Hermione!"

I let my head fall back onto the pillow as I turned the darkest shade of red known to man and covered up my face with my hands.

"RONALD WEASLEY! YOU GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT! YOU ARE IN FOR A WORLD OF TROUBLE YOUNG MAN! I'M GOING TO HEX YOU TO STAY IN THAT ROOM FOR A YEAR ALONE IF YOU DON'T GET HERE IN THE NEXT TEN SECONDS!"

Mrs Weasley never did hex Ron to stay in his room for a year but it certainly felt like that long before she left us alone in the house again.

**A:N// Yeah it's a little OC but it's practically impossible for anyone who's not JK to write completely in character :)No copyright infringement intended. Reviews are very much appreciated!**


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